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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26562997">not so under the sea</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/afropogue/pseuds/afropogue'>afropogue</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Beach, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Mermaids, Romance, they lifers btw</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:49:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,724</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26562997</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/afropogue/pseuds/afropogue</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>alex isn’t completely opposed to the idea of mermaids, since he may or may not have had an encounter with one in the past, but he’s still a bit skeptical. however, all skepticism flies out the window when he discovers one of the half-human half-fish hybrids in his pool.</p><p>aka the willex mermaid au no one asked for hehe</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Luke Patterson/Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>115</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Alex has his first near-death experience at eight years old.</p><p>He’s visiting his aunt down at the shore, which he absolutely adores doing. He loves the fact that his aunt lived on a beach and that every time he visited her it was guaranteed that they’d go down to the beach.</p><p>His careless little eight year old self had wandered off to the sea to gather water for the sand castle he was building, intending to stay in the shallow part like his aunt always told him to.</p><p>He’s throwing out a stray piece of seaweed that found its way to the brim of the bucket when he hears a voice. It’s soft and faint, but the sound is enough to cause Alex to pause and listen. He perks up curiously. He looks around. His aunt lived on a private beach and the only other people he ever really sees are his aunt’s few neighbors, but none of them are out on the beach that day. So where is the voice coming from? </p><p>He inches his ear closer toward where he thinks the sound of coming from.</p><p>He turns his head. It’s coming from the direction beside him.</p><p>Curious, he inches closer to the sound. The volume increases as the distance between him and the voice reduces. The voice remains soft in tone, and it’s singing. Alex doesn’t recognize the tune, he doesn’t even understand the lyrics. Either he’s still too far away, or the singing isn’t in English. Either way, it’s still gratifyingly harmonious, and the sound makes Alex’s body tingle. He has a lot of favorite songs, but none have ever made him feel so intensely.</p><p>His body seems to have a mind of its own, as he doesn’t even register his body moving closer, to detect the owner of the delicate voice. </p><p>He sees a huge rock in the ocean. There’s someone on it. The person is looking out in front of them, so Alex only sees their profile. The person has long brown hair and tanned skin. He can only see a profile few of their body and face as the person lays against the rock, singing, seemingly unaware to the presence of the young blonde boy.</p><p>That is when Alex realizes how far he’s ventured out. The water is almost at his chin, and he’s very tall for his age so that conveys how far he’s gone out into the sea. His feet are also barely touching the ground, and he recognizes that he’s way beyond the shallow warers</p><p>He starts to panic as the ocean slowly pulls him in, forcibly welcoming him further into the waters. In that moment he wishes he would’ve taken swimming lessons like the other kids.</p><p>He flails about in the water, struggling to keep his head up. He screams out ‘help!’, hoping the person he saw singing on the rock hears him. He only catches a glimpse of the tanned skin long-haired singer on the rock before he feels himself submerged down into the water.</p><p>Alex’s tears become one with the salted ocean as he grapples with gravity. Screams threaten to escape his chest but he keeps his mouth closed, too afraid of choking on the water.</p><p>The young boy thinks, <i>this is the end.</i> He’ll never see his parents or his aunt again. He’ll never visit the beach with his aunt, he’ll never build another sandcastle ever again, he’ll become a miserable corpse, rotting in a coffin awaiting its moment to debut during the inevitable future zombie apocalypse-whenever that was-</p><p>He’s in such a panicked state he almost doesn’t register the arms that wrap around his body. Alex feels his body rising but he doesn’t know the source because he’s pretty sure only a few seconds ago he was on his way to becoming shark food. </p><p>Suddenly Alex’s skin is hit with the familiar surface air. Arms are still wrapped around his middle, carrying him in a direction he can’t see, eyes still shut. He is teetering on the edge of unconsciousness, so he must’ve been close to drowning.</p><p>Alex manages to open his eyes, ignoring the salt water burn. He gets another slightly blurry but familiar half view of the person’s face, and the same long hair he saw just before slipping under. It was the singing person.</p><p>The singing person lays him on the baked sand, which warms his shivering body. Alex‘s eyes flutter, half lidded, fighting to stay open. He strains his currently weak vision to get a clearer look of his savior. The person looks like a young boy, close to his age. He feels his body start to slip and <i>mmm he’s feeling sleepy, what if he just took a...a little nap....</i></p><p>He hears a faint voice in the background, it sounds like it’s shouting at him, voice full of panic.</p><p>For what seems to be a while, all he sees is darkness. Then suddenly his body is violently wracking with coughs. </p><p>The boy is shirtless, which doesn’t surprise him as much as what he sees when he looks down at the rest of the boy’s body and...<i>woah is that a tail?!</i></p><p>No way, mermaids couldn’t be real. He had to be dreaming. Mermaids only existed in the Disney universe, girly cartoons (which he secretly enjoyed but you’d never hear that from him), and his aunt’s stories, all which were <i>fake.</i> They didn’t actually exist.</p><p>Alex blinks rapidly, shaking his head. When he looks above him, the boy-mermaid boy-is still there, peering at him with worried eyes.</p><p>“Are you...are you real?” Alex asks, throat still hoarse from having his lungs practically filled with salt water. His vision is becoming a little clearer, but his mind is still muddled.</p><p>The boy looks relieved when he talks. Alex opens his mouth to say something else when a familiar voice emerges in the distance. </p><p>“Alex! Alex! Where are you?” </p><p>The mermaid boy’s face contorts to panic. “I-I have to go, y-you shouldn’t have seen me.” the mermaid boy backs up quickly towards the ocean.</p><p>Alex reaches out, wanting to verify that this wasn’t a dream, but he’s too weak and his body is still racking out unbridled coughs. </p><p>“Alex!”</p><p>Alex looks beside him to see his aunt running out toward him. He’s still lying on the sand so he props up his elbows, attempting to sit up. His aunt kneels down, immediately pulling the young boy to her chest.</p><p>“My dear boy Alexander I was so worried!” She strokes his wet hair protectively, cosseting him as if he were a baby. If it were anyone else he’d squirm and pull away, because he was a big boy who didn’t need to be babied, but he liked being in his aunts arms so he let her coddle him. He did almost drown after all.</p><p>“I saw you go into the ocean but when I turned around for one second you were just gone! Do you understand how worried I was?! I thought you had went too far into the ocean-which I’ve specifically told you <i>not</i> to do-your parents would’ve killed me!” his aunt rambles fretfully. She wraps her arms around him tighter as she speaks, and the hug starts to become less comfortable and almost resembles how he was, choking on seawater only a couple minutes ago, which is still slightly traumatizing.</p><p>“I-I’m fine Aunt Mae.” he squeezes out.</p><p>She suddenly pulls away, hands still gripping his shoulders as she analyzes him. “You’re soaking wet. You didn’t go out far did you?” by her tone it sounds like she knows the answer.</p><p>Aunt Mae can usually see through him, so he doesn’t attempt to lie. “Y-yes but he saved me.” He coughs again, before quickly leaning over to look past his aunt’s form. The mermaid boy is gone.</p><p>His face crumbles in disappointment at the mermaid’s absence. He knows what he saw. </p><p>His aunt turns, following his gaze to the wide expanse of the ocean. “He?”</p><p>“It was...” Alex says, hesitant to tell his aunt. She wouldn’t believe him. But she’s looking at him expectantly, curious glint in her eye, so he reluctantly continues, “a mermaid.”</p><p>“A mermaid?”</p><p>Alex nods, still staring the direction the mermaid had left. He wants to call out to the mermaid, he wants to know its name, heck-he wants to befriend him, he wants to know if his eyes truly deceived him or if the half fish creatures were truly real. But he knew the mermaid wouldn’t come back.</p><p>He thinks his aunt is going to laugh it off and tell him he’s silly, but she simply looks at him with the same curious expression on her face. She’s silent for a few moments until she stands up, wiping the sand off the back of her legs and shorts. “Hmm. Well, come on. Your parents will be back with the food soon.”</p><p>Alex coughs again. He let’s his aunt help him up. She holds out her hand for him to take, which he does. As they walk back to his aunt’s home (he had ended up all the way on the other side, in an isolated area near a beach cover, not too far from his aunt’s place), he can’t help but look back at the spot in the ocean where the mermaid disappeared, probably deeper in the sea than he could ever imagine.</p><p><i>He didn’t even get to say thank you.</i> </p><p>****</p><p>A bolt of thunder booms through the house, causing Alex to jolt awake, body immediately lifting into a sitting position. His eyes widen from the abrupt noise. He leans against the back pillows of the couch, breathless from the shock of the thunder and partially from his dream.</p><p>He should be used to the dream, he’s had the same one for years now. </p><p>He knows the incident wasn’t a dream and did happen. He remembered it vividly. How could he forget nearly drowning? </p><p>Years have passed but Alex never forgets that day. He almost wants to convince himself that it was all just a weird dream, or a figment of his imagination. Perhaps he had swallowed too much saltwater and it made him see things. Because <i>mermaids? real?</i> It seemed absurd. But a part of him does believe that mermaids were real, and that he had possibly been saved by one. But alas, with no proof, he couldn’t be sure. His memory wasn’t exactly a reliable source, especially considering that he almost drowned and was half delirious at the time. </p><p>Still, his skepticism doesn’t stop him from occasionally dreaming of long hair and tanned skin.</p><p>Alex leans over to the coffee table, picking his phone up. He briefly checks the home screen for the time. It’s not even 8:00 pm yet. His nap lasted longer than he intended it to be. He runs a hand down his face.</p><p>He recalls the weather forecast predicting the likelihood of an impending storm, and the noise of wind-blown trees and thunder proves it to have been right. Apparently this storm is supposed to be wild tonight.</p><p>He wraps his arms around himself, shivering slightly. He stands up, pattering over to the huge window. In the dark he can make out a couple of trees, swaying to the side as they’re pounded by the blustery winds. It would probably cause a mess tomorrow, and he hopes it dies down soon.</p><p>He flinches as a speck of lightening flashes across the sky, another loud thud ensuing. He quickly closes the blinds before heading to his room.</p><p>He walks down the hall, making his way to his bedroom. He slips into his bed as the storm persists outside, waiting for sleep to take over him again.</p><p>Just as he expected, when he wakes up and looks outside the window, it’s a whole mess. Leaves and other debris are scattered everywhere onto the normally mostly clear sandy floor. He‘s almost scared to see how his front and back yard turned out.</p><p>Alex groans, realizing he’s going to have to clean all of that up at some point.</p><p>The blonde shakes his head, trying knock out remaining remnants of sleep.</p><p>He walks back to his bedside table and picks up his phone to check the time but realizes the battery icon is white instead of green like it usually is when it’s connected to the charger. He takes the plug out and plugs it back in. The white battery icon doesn’t change or ‘ding!’ to signify its charging.</p><p>His charger couldn’t possibly be broken, he just bought it last week.</p><p>He heads over to the switch and flips it, groaning when he realizes <i>yup no power.</i></p><p>The storm must’ve hit harder than he thought. He stores plans on calling the power company later in the back of his mind and starts to get ready. </p><p>The water is probably too cold to shower so he just throws on some shorts with an old t-shirt and sweatshirt over it. No need to put effort into his clothes when he’d probably just spend most of the day cleaning the outside remains of the storm.</p><p>Alex grabs a bunch of supplies he’ll need for cleaning and takes them with him as he heads outside. </p><p>His nose is instantly hit with the scent of petrichor mixed with the earthy fragrance of fresh rain as soon as he steps outside. The air is slightly chilly, which Alex predicted hence the hoodie.</p><p>He scans his eyes over his front yard, which is littered with leftover’s of last night’s storm. The idea of cleaning everything up didn’t sound appealing <i>at all.</i></p><p>Alex glances over to the houses near his, noticing a few of his neighbors in the same predicament as him. They’re all cleaning up their respective lawns, garbage bags and garbage cans present. </p><p>He pulls on his rubber gloves. <i>Time to get to work.<i></i></i></p><p>
  <i>
    <i>The first thing he does is is sweep the porch. He sweeps extra sand dust that travelled via the wind last night back into its rightful place on the sandy ground. Any debris or litter gets thrown into garbage bags.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>He’s probably sighed about thirty times since he’s started because <i>screw this storm why the hell did it leave such a mess.</i></i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>“Hey Alex!” a voice calls.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Alex looks up just as he’s putting another piece of trash into the trash bag. He sees a familiar brunet figure walking toward him.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>He smiles at his friend. “Hey Luke.” </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Luke is his best friend and one of his neighbors, luckily. They used to play together as children every time Alex visited his aunt there at the shore, and remained friends since. Luke was also his first crush, and they had a summer fling when they were young teens but it didn’t last long, as they realized they were better off as friends. He’s glad it didn’t ruin their friendship, Alex was one of few the lucky ones who was fortunate enough to keep his ex as a best friend.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Luke grins at him. “Wild storm out here last night huh?”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Alex hums in agreement. “Wild might be an understatement. I haven’t even started on the back and pool yet and I’m scared to see what the storm has thrown up back there.”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Luke chuckles. “I know, my place is totally trashed. No power either?”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Alex shakes his head. “Nah. Can we postpone practice for later? I don’t feel right leaving all this mess.”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Alex, Luke, Luke’s roommate Reggie and their friend Julie were all in a band. It wasn’t anything big or fancy, they’ve had small gigs here and there but they weren’t really popular beyond the locals. Sometimes they dreamed of their band gaining more traction and getting to perform in front of larger crowds and possibly touring, but it was difficult to get even minor gigs let alone a record deal or whole tour. Alex was also reluctant on leaving his aunt’s home, the place he’s found comfort and refuge in for the past few years. </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Overall even if their band doesn’t break it mainstream, it’s mostly just for fun and Alex wouldn’t trade it for the world.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>“Yeah, yeah of course, actually one of the reasons I came over here to tell you. Reggie and I decided to push back practice anyway so we can clean up the mess.”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>“And here I thought you came because you missed me.” Alex teases.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Luke rolls his eyes playfully. “I literally saw you yesterday.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Alex flips his hair back and bites his lip dramatically, posing. “What can I say, I’m just too irresistible.”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>“That sounds like something I would say.”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>“Who do you think I get it from?”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Luke hits his shoulder jokingly. He jerks a thumb over his shoulder. “Well I gotta go back. We got a lot to clean up.”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>“That bad huh?”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Luke scratches his neck sheepishly. “Yeah...I might’ve maybe sorta left our back door open last night so...”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Alex winces and gives him a sympathetic look. He could barely get through cleaning the mess outside, he doesn’t want to imagine the hassle of having to additionally scrape out storm debris from the inside of his home as well. “Yikes man. You’re still here so I’m guessing Reggie hasn’t killed you yet.”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Luke smirks. “<i>Yet.</i> He wasn’t even that mad honestly. Okay maybe he yelled a <i>little bit</i> but let’s hope he’s calmed down when I get back.”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Alex laughs a little, he can picture Reggie’s vexed reaction at seeing the storm’s leftover mess inside their house. Luke was probably going to be scolded by him all day. “Well good luck with that.”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>“Haha yeah. Anyway I’ll catch you later! See you at practice.” Luke says, backing up from the porch as he prepares to leave.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>“See you!” He waves at Luke and receives one last wink before the other turns to leave. </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Once he finishes clearing up as much of the debris and trash as he can, he puts the trash bags in the garbage bin, ready for the trash truck when it stops to pick up trash on its respective trash days.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>He dusts his gloved hands, looking proudly at his work, before turning to head back inside. </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>He makes his way through house until he reaches the backyard door. </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>It’s just as bad as he expected. </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>One of the smaller trees had toppled and fallen into the pool, causing leaves to detach from the tree and disperse over the pool surface. Other debris and litter were mixed in the pool.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>In that moment Alex deeply regretted procrastinating on buying a new pool cover. He really needs to get on that.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>He’s never been that fond of the pool. He doesn’t even really use it-doesn’t see the purpose when they were practically surrounded by ocean. But it came with the house, thus Alex was still technically in charge of taking care of it. His aunt probably wouldn’t appreciate her pool looking trashed. He only used it when Luke and Reggie came over since they love the fact that he has one (he even suspects they only come there because of his pool) and even then he preferred to just sit on the edge and dip his legs in.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Alex emits another long sigh. He‘d probably have to ask his friends to help him get it out later. He didn’t want to waste money on getting someone to take a damn tree out of his pool.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>He carefully steps over the random bits of mess strewn across the deck, making his way closer to the pool. The water is murky green, he even thinks he sees a hint of red in it but it’s probably just from the sea junk and debris. The new smell of dirt and debris is evidently mixed in with the normal pool scent. It surprisingly doesn’t smell as bad as he was expecting, but the scent is still vaguely strong.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>He grabs the nearby pool net and reaches for as much trash and debris as he can, pulling them out of the water. He’s leaning against his stomach on the deck surface, trying his hardest not to fall into the turbid water. </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Just as he’s about to reach for another piece of floating junk, something catches his eye. He makes out a hint of movement in the water underneath a pile of junk. There’s a slight shimmer that accompanies the movement.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>A normal person would just ignore it and brush it off as a trick of the eye, and Alex probably would’ve done just that, but then it moves again. </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>It appeared to be a scale. Maybe it was a fish. <i> Poor guy probably got caught up in the storm</i>, Alex can’t help but think, frowning.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>However, it looks awfully long and big to be an ordinary fish. He inches closer to the thicker part of the fallen tree, trying to make out the ‘fish’ shape in the water. The shine seemed to come from scales. Alex prods at it with his pool net. <i>What the hell kind of fish was this?</i></i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Now Alex definitely doesn’t expect a random head to emerge from behind the thicker portion of the tree. He suddenly finds himself staring into piercing brown eyes.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>“Hi!”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Alex lets out a loud yelp and immediately jumps back when he sees the stranger pop up from the pool, bottom landing on the pool deck floor.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>What the hell?! Why was there a random person in his aunt’s pool?!</i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>The piercing brown eyes belonged to a man with long waves of dark brown hair and tanned skin, similar to the one on the figure he’s seen in his dreams.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Alex is frozen in his spot, unsure of how to react. So he does what any other person would do in this situation. </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>He screams.</i>
  </i>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“...That was loud.” the strange man in the pool states after Alex screams. </p><p>Alex backs away further from the pool. He has his pool net aimed in the strange man’s direction, ready to use it as self defense. He isn’t sure how effective a pool net will make to be as a weapon but he had very limited options in that moment so he’d have to see for himself.</p><p>“W-why the hell are you in my pool?!” Alex demands.</p><p>The strange man simply stares at him, looking unaffected by Alex’s outburst. </p><p>“The storm of course.” He says so casually <i>as if he isn’t lounging in a stranger’s pool.</i></p><p>Alex furrows his eyebrows in confusion. “What does the storm have to do with you being in my pool?!”</p><p>The strange man gives him a puzzled look. “The storm brought me here. I just said that.”</p><p><i>Yeah this guy is crazy.</i> How the hell does a storm wash up a person hard enough to land them in a random person’s pool. Even if that were the case, why didn’t he just leave? Why was he still lounging in Alex’s pool? Especially when it was currently <i>far</i> from sanitary for swimming.</p><p>“Did you not see the tail?” Strange man questions. “You were just poking at it a couple seconds ago. It actually woke me up from my slumber so thanks for that screaming land lifer.”</p><p>“The tail? what tail-“ Alex pauses, connecting two and two together. </p><p>No, no, no. It wasn’t possible. How could it be? A mermaid? </p><p>“You’re a....mermaid...” Alec says dubiously, not really believing the words coming out of his mouth.</p><p>Nah this was wild. He was obviously dreaming again because no way there was a freaking mermaid in his aunt’s pool. Maybe it was just some overzealous mermaid cosplayer.</p><p><i>(Although part of him believed that he wasn’t seeing things and perhaps the incident from his childhood wasn’t a figment of his imagination after all?)</i>.</p><p>The strange (potential mermaid??) man is still staring at him curiously. He points to the tree lodged on top of him. “Hey, when you’re done panicking can you help get this tree off of me? I can’t really move.”</p><p>Alex blinks, realizing he’s just been silently staring, deep in thought. He abruptly stands up. He inches closer to the strange man, still keeping a semblance of distance between them because he doesn’t know what this strange guy is capable of.</p><p>Once he gets closer he notices that the man is indeed stuck between the tree stem. That can’t be comfortable, why doesn’t he just swim under it if he’s a <i>’mermaid?’</i></p><p>While Alex is beyond bewildered by the guy’s presence in the pool, he isn’t cruel enough to leave him entrapped by a tree. </p><p>Alex musters up all his strength and pushes over the tree stem. It proves to be a difficult task, as he tries to make a bigger gap for the strange man to get free.</p><p>He fortunately manages to push over the tree without falling into the pool. Half of the tree is still in the water, but the guy isn’t lodged between it anymore.</p><p>The man smiles gratefully at him, and now that Alex has calmed down a bit from shock of the situation, he notes that the strange man is actually <i>really attractive</i> and has a very pretty smile. </p><p>It still doesn’t deflect from the fact that <i>he’s a stranger in his pool.</i></p><p>He gets a better glimpse of the tail he saw earlier. It’s still a little blurry under the murky water but he can still see its shape.</p><p>Something tells him this isn’t just an extremely fervent mermaid cosplayer.</p><p>“You.....” What was he supposed to do about this? </p><p>Suddenly Willie hisses, as if he’s felt a flicker of pain. “Ah, I forgot about that.”</p><p>“Forgot about what?”</p><p>“I’m kinda...injured?” the stranger says but his tone sounds questioning, as if he was he distant on saying it. Before Alex can react, the strange guy places his both hands behind him on the pool deck floor, lifting himself up into a sitting position. He winces again after the action.</p><p>Alex’s eyes widen at the sight of the vibrant azure blue tail that emerges from the water. Despite already having seen it from under the water, it was still a shock to see it lying there so <i>real.</i> He hasn’t seen many fake tails before, but this one definitely looked like a genuine tail.</p><p>
  <i>Walk away, walk away, walk away, this isn’t real you’re day dreaming again. Maybe a more oddly specific day dream than usual but just leave the strange fish man alone and maybe he’ll disappear-</i>
</p><p>He’s about to bolt and maybe scream again for good measure when his eyes lay upon a claret red gash on the side of the strange guy’s tail.</p><p>Fake tails certainly did <i>not</i> bleed.</p><p>“You’re bleeding...” Alex states in a softer tone.  That explained the faint redness in the water.</p><p>Willie touches the gash lightly, flinching as soon as it makes contact with his hand. “Hmm, I am am I.” he sounds surprisingly nonchalant for someone who is bleeding out of their tail.</p><p>Then he shakes his head. “I must have cut myself on something from the storm. I’m fine however! Mind carrying me back to the ocean?”</p><p>Alex gives him an incredulous look. “You’re literally injured will you even be able to swim?”</p><p>“I’ll heal.” The man says dismissively. He attempts to move but in doing so it only causes him to hiss in pain.</p><p>Even though Alex is still confounded by recent events, his mother hen instincts still kick in. This mermaid (merman?) was clearly hurt, and only the most stone-hearted person would leave them out there like that. And no matter how much Alex wanted to hightail out of there, his morals outweigh the urge. </p><p>Alex stays in his spot for a couple seconds, contemplating. “Wait here.” He says to the merman, which he realizes right after is kinda unnecessary but he leaves it hanging in the air, rushing back inside the house. He makes his way to the emergency closet-the closet where his aunt kept medical and other important supplies. He grabs the bag of general medical supplies and rushes back outside.</p><p>The merman is still there, occupied with observing his surroundings. His attention snaps to Alex when he reappears.</p><p>Alex sits down on the floor next to the merman, placing his things on his other side.</p><p>The merman cocks his head at the new materials. “What’s all that?”</p><p>“This,” Alex proclaims taking out the bandage roll from its container, “is what I’m going to use to heal your wound.”</p><p>The merman looks at it warily. His eyes widen when he sees Alex pull out a pair of pivoted sharp-looking metal blades. He shifts slightly away from the blonde boy.</p><p>Alex raises his eyebrows when he notices the other moving away. He trails the merman’s eyes to his scissors and laughs a little. “They’re just scissors, they won’t hurt you. See,” Alex takes the scissors and snips off a large chunk of bandage from the role. He places it on his opposite side gently, “completely harmless.”</p><p>Willie is still watching him charily but moves closer to Alex again.</p><p>Alex gingerly cleans the wound, attempting to make the pain as minimal as he can. There are specks of dirt among the red surface, which makes him a bit queasy but he pushes down his discomfort. Despite Alex’s attempts at being tender, the merman still flinches every so often, which makes Alex’s stomach bubble with guilt.</p><p>They’re both silent for the most part, save for Willie’s soft grunts when Alex presses onto the wound a little too hard and Alex’s profuse apologies. “So uh...what’s your name?” Alex asks in an attempt to distract the merman from the pain and also because it’s probably not polite to call him “Strange Guy” in his head.</p><p>“I am called Willie.”</p><p>Willie. It suits him, though Alex expected something more...<i>aquatic.</i></p><p>“I’m Alex.” </p><p>Willie tilts his head, testing the name on his tongue. “Alex....interesting.” Willie shoots him a small smile. Alex’s heart increases ever so slightly. </p><p>
  <i>Is he seriously attracted to a mermaid?</i>
</p><p>He averts his eyes away from Willie’s, ignoring the other’s eyes on him as he continues to clean the wound. This was no time to be gay for a <i>merman</i> of all people. </p><p>Once he finishes cleaning the wound, Alex picks up the bandage, and commences wrapping it around the now cleaned up wound. </p><p>Willie flinches significantly less, probably having gotten used to the pain from Alex cleaning off the dirt in the wound. </p><p>Alex pointedly ignores how close they are, and still can’t over the fact that he’s <i>tending to the wounds of a fucking mermaid.</i> After wrapping the wound with the bandage, Alex<br/>
backs up slightly to put the first aid materials back into the bag.</p><p>The merman runs his hand across his newly bandaged wound, intrigued by the strange texture.</p><p>Alex isn’t really sure what to do next. He couldn’t just carry a mermaid across the beach and throw it in the ocean, and the pool was currently too dirty to just keep him in there. And it was probably best for the mermaid’s tail to heal on land.</p><p>He tries to think of other options. He snaps his fingers in realization. </p><p>“Okay so I cant leave you out here, and your wound needs to properly heal anyway. So I am going to haul you into the bathroom, sound good?” </p><p>Willie tilts his head again, and Alex thinks he’s going to protest and ask to go back to the ocean again but surprisingly he just nods his assent.</p><p>Alex kinda just stands for a moment, wondering how to start before realizing there isn’t really a non-awkward way to initiate lifting a mermaid, so he just goes ahead and picks him up.</p><p>And <i>wow,</i> mermaids are heavier than they look.</p><p>Willie wraps his arms his neck for security, emitting a blush from Alex. </p><p>He’s glad that he left the slide door open half way so he only has to slide it a little further with his hip to fit through.</p><p>He still ends up knocking the end of Wllie’s tail against the door. Willie lets out a pained noise and scowls at him.</p><p>“Sorry!” Alex apologizes sheepishly.</p><p>He continues to lead them through the house, dreading the form of transportation they’ll have to take to get upstairs:</p><p><i>The staircase</i>.</p><p>Just as he predicted, it was quite difficult carrying a mermaid up a staircase. He narrowly tries not to hit its tail against the wall or the railing, and he’s surprised that they make it up the staircase without Alex dropping the merman.</p><p>Alex gets Willie settled in the bathtub. The power is still put, so when Alex turns the handle the water is still freezing due to no warm running water, but the merman doesn’t seemed bothered by the cold temperature. Alex figures it’s because he’s probably used to living in the cold ocean water.</p><p>He watches the merman settle into the water, wiggling around until it becomes comfortable, visibly relaxing in the water. The tail slightly surpasses the bathtub in length, so the mermaid’s position causes the fins to poke out at the end of the tub. </p><p>The whole scene is still surreal to him. An overgrown fish, casually sitting in his bathtub.</p><p>“Would you excuse me for a moment?” Alex asks, not even letting the mermaid answer before he turns and walks out of the room.</p><p>He finds himself pacing the hallway outside the bathroom, running his hands through his hair, thinking about the key components of his day.</p><p>Particularly the part where he found a merman in his pool.</p><p>Alex did not handle change well. A mermaid ending up in his pool and now currently sprawled in his bathtub? <i>Quite the big change.</i></p><p>What was he going to do with him? How was he going to get him back in the ocean without the risk of being seen and questioned by his neighbors? Should he tell his friends? </p><p>Alex spends the next couple minutes continuing to pace back and forth in the hallway, wondering where to go from there. </p><p>A loud, wet splash from inside the bathroom shakes him out of his reverie.</p><p>He opens the bathroom door to see a huge puddle across from the bathtub. To any other person it would probably look like flooding had commenced right then and there.</p><p>Alex glares at the mermaid, who just stares at him innocently. “Hey would you please try not to splash as much? I’d rather not have a flood in the bathroom.”</p><p>Willie pouts, and Alex can’t help but be amused by the expression. </p><p>He leaves the bathroom, heading for the small closet right next to the bathroom. His aunt keeps a bunch of folded spare towels: why she has so many, he doesn’t know, but he’s grateful in that moment. He takes two and enters the bathroom again.</p><p>He bends down to wipe the now drenched floor with the towels  (yes he needed two because that’s how big the mess was) and cringes at the feeling of wet towel in his hands.</p><p>Once he’s finished, he turns to the mermaid, pointing a reprimanding finger at him. “You just...stay in here and don’t make a mess, okay?” </p><p>The merman just tilts his head at him (that was getting real annoying), an amused smile etched on his face. He just nods.</p><p>Alex opens and closes his mouth, wanting to say something else but nothing substantial coming out. He huffs dramatically before leaving, shutting the door.</p><p>***</p><p>When Alex wakes up the next morning, he has no recollection of the day before for a solid five minutes.</p><p>All he remembered was a crazy dream he had. Not the occasional ‘getting saved by a mermaid’ dream that he was still iffy on the veracity of, but this one was different. In this dream, he had found a freaking <i>mermaid</i> in his pool, <i>how absurd was that?</i></p><p>He stretches, groaning at the cracking sensation in his body. He exits the bed, heading for the door.</p><p>He pads over to the bathroom door, rubbing the sleepiness from his face.</p><p>When he opens the door, he is hit with the realization that his ‘dream’ had <i>definitely not been a dream.</i></p><p>The mermaid’s face is concealed under the water, but the tail is a dead giveaway.</p><p>Alex sighs. So this was real life, <i>there was actually a mythical sea creature in his bath tub.</i></p><p>The mermaid (merman?) doesn’t respond to his entrance and stays submerged in the water, so Alex concluded he’s either ignoring his presence or sleeping in his weird mermaid way.</p><p>Alex doesn’t really want to wake up the merman, mostly because he isn’t sure of what to say or do, so he quietly slips out of the bathroom, leaving the merman in peace to do...whatever he’s doing.</p><p>He also remembers that he called his friends yesterday to come over and help him take the tree out of his pool that morning. With another tired exhale he goes back to his room to get ready. </p><p>***</p><p>“This tree isn’t even that big why the hell is it so heavy?” Luke asks as he and his friends attempt to lift the tree out of the pool later that morning.</p><p>Reggie grunts as he pulls on one side. “I know right. Alex you should’ve just got some actual professionals to do this.” He holds up his palms, pouting. “I just moisturized!”</p><p>Alex rolls his eyes. “You guys quit being babies and lets just get this tree out of the pool.  It would be a waste of money to call some guys to get it out when we are perfectly capable, and Aunt Mae would kill me if I left her pool like this.”</p><p>Luke scoffs. “Mae is too nice she would never, besides she won’t even be back til the end of next month right?”</p><p>Alex’s aunt had went on some trip out of the country. She was quite the travel buff and liked to take spontaneous trips when she had the chance. She had offered to take him with her but he declined, wanting to spend most of the summer with his friends. Which also made him in charge of her home while she was gone.</p><p>“Yeah but still. Plus it looks weird just sticking out.” Alex wrinkles his nose.</p><p>Luke huffs, lifting an arm to flex his prominent muscles. “You’re lucky I got these bad boys.” he says, giving his muscles a kiss for good measure along with a wink aimed at Reggie. Alex shakes his head at his antics and looks at Reggie expecting to see him laughing (since he laughs at the dumbest shit Luke does). Instead Reggie pointedly ducks his head down, not responding. Despite that he can still make out an evidently redder tint on Reggie’s cheeks.</p><p>Alex raises his eyebrows at that but doesn’t comment.</p><p>The three boys struggle to move the tree out of the pool. It feels like forever, but eventually they manage to get it out of the pool and onto the deck.</p><p>Luke claps his hands together afterward. “That was quite the struggle.”</p><p>“Indeed.” Reggie agrees.</p><p>Alex nods in agreement as well. “Yeah, thanks for helping me you guys.”</p><p>His friends wave him off. “No problem dude! That’s what besties are for!” Reggie grins giving him good-natured shoulder arm bump.</p><p>“Please don’t say bestie again.”</p><p>Luke turns to walk away from them, heading toward the backyard glass door. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom, I’ll be right back.”</p><p>Alex suddenly remembers his aquatic companion in his bathroom. “Oh don’t use the main upstairs bathroom! It’s uh, broken.”</p><p>Luke looks back to nod at him in acknowledgment and heads inside. Alex’s nerves increase. What if Luke decides to go in the upstairs bathroom anyway and sees the merman in his tub?</p><p>He can’t really go after him without seeming suspicious, so he just hopes that Luke takes his word and doesn’t go in that bathroom.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Reggie asks, probably sensing his nervousness.</p><p>“Y-yeah of course I am why do you ask?”</p><p>“You’ve been looking kinda on-edge since we got here.“</p><p>Alex gives him an affirmative nod and smile that he hopes doesn’t look suspicious. “Don’t worry bout me Reg, I’m totally fine. Just been preoccupied with...things.” The blonde cringes at how implausible he sounds.</p><p>Thankfully Reggie isn’t the brightest in the group and doesn’t ask him to elaborate. He just walks over to his side and pats his shoulder. “Okay, but you know you can tell us anything right?”</p><p>Alex nods profusely. “Yeah of course.”</p><p>Luke comes back outside shortly. His expression is neutral and he doesn’t look bewildered or shocked so Alex thinks it’s safe to assume he didn’t go to the main upstairs bathroom. He lets out an inaudible sigh of relief. </p><p>He claps his hands together, looking around. “So is that all?”</p><p>“Yep. Again, thank you guys.” </p><p>“Again, it was no problem.” Luke mimics his tone, making Alex glare playfully at him. Luke nods at Reggie, gesturing for him to come over to his side.</p><p>“See you at practice?” Luke asks Alex as they walk toward the fence.</p><p>
  <i>Practice. Right.</i>
</p><p>“Uh actually something came up so I’m gonna have to miss it again today, sorry guys.” Alec says.</p><p>“Really? What came up?” Luke asks. </p><p><i>Oh shit he had to come up with a decent excuse.</i> “Um,” Alex scratches the back of his neck, “I gotta to do some things.” <i>Yes very convincing Alex.</i></p><p>Luke quirks an eyebrow. “What things?”</p><p>Alex had to think fast, he couldn’t exactly state that “things” involved watching over a strange sea creature that was currently sitting upstairs in a bathtub. </p><p>“Aunt Mae called and told me to do some things for her....during practice time....”</p><p>Reggie looks confused. “Why can’t you just do it after?”</p><p>Alex sighs in exasperation. Why were his friends so persistent? “Guys I’ll be at practice tomorrow okay? I just gotta do these things today.”</p><p>Luke still looks skeptical, but he sighs and relents. “Okay....we’ll see you tomorrow then. Good luck with your ‘<i>things.’”</i></p><p>“Yeah definitely.” Alex concurs.</p><p>Reggie waves goodbye to him before he and Luke leave the backyard through the fence door.</p><p>Alex sighs of relief again. His friends probably didn’t believe him but at least they didn’t question him. He waits until Luke and Reggie have made it closer to the front before rushing back inside and up the stairs.</p><p>When he flings open the door, Willie is still in the tub, face submerged under the water. His head abruptly snaps up when he hears the loud sound of the door opening. He relaxes when he realizes its just Alex, but keeps his face above the water up to his chin, closing his eyes.</p><p>Alex takes a seat on the closed toilet seat across from the tub, staring inquisitively at the mermaid. It’s been a day and he still couldn’t believe this was really happening to him.</p><p>“You are aware I can’t move out of this tub on my own...right?” Willie states slowly, eyes still closed.</p><p>Alex’s cheeks redden in embarrassment. He huffs, looking away. “I know that! I’m just making sure you don’t somehow get into trouble or anything.”</p><p>“How would I get into trouble when I’m confined to a bathtub?”</p><p>“I-well-I don’t know! I don’t know what you mermaids are capable of!”</p><p>Willie gives him an unimpressed look. “You are strange land-lifer.”</p><p>“Land lifer what-and I’m sorry <i>I’m</i> the strange one?!” </p><p>Before Willie can answer, a loud grumble fills in the room. Willie looks down at his stomach and looks at Alex, pointing to his mouth. “Food.” is all he says.</p><p>“You’re hungry?” Alex questions. The merman just nods.</p><p>Alex feels a little guilty for not feeding the sea creature earlier, even though Willie was technically an unsolicited guest.</p><p>Alex abruptly stands up and leaves, heading downstairs for the kitchen. </p><p>Only when he’s halfway to the kitchen that he realizes he forgot to ask what the merman wanted to eat. <i>What did fish eat anyway? Specifically what did half human-half fish eat?</i></p><p>He ponders what he can give the merman as he makes his way to the kitchen. He scans the fridge for anything a mermaid would find appetizing.</p><p>He spots some leftover sushi from his aunt that she never finished. Sushi makes sense right? It does have fish in it. After scanning the fridge for anything better, he takes it out deeming it the best option. She wouldn’t be back for a while anyway so she probably wouldn’t care or notice. </p><p>Noting the slight gnawing in his stomach, he decides to grab a granola bar for himself. He jogs back upstairs with the food in tow.</p><p>Willie looks at the plate of food in his hands curiously when he sees him enter.</p><p>Alex plops down on the toilet seat again. “I‘m not really sure what mermaids eat but I figured this was the closest resemblance to seafood.” he explains.</p><p>The merman straightens his posture, sitting up from his half-lying position. He leans closer to the human. His eyes flicker back and forth between the food and Alex’s face, before hesitantly opening his mouth. </p><p><i>Oh he wanted him to feed him?</i> Alex blinks, not expecting that, but he still picks up a piece of sushi. He leans over in his seat, lifting the piece up near the mermaid’s mouth. The merman just looks at it for a moment, before taking the whole piece in his mouth.</p><p>Willie slowly chews it, and Alex watches as his eyes dilate, humming happily. After he gulps down the piece, he nods at Alex expectantly.</p><p><i>Guess sushi was the right choice</i>. Alex would be lying if he said his reaction wasn’t endearing. He keeps feeding the merman the remaining pieces of sushi from the tray until it’s all gone.</p><p>Willie pouts when he realizes the sushi is gone. Alex chuckles. “You like sushi huh?”</p><p>Willie nods fervently. Alex notes that he doesn’t seem to talk much. He must be on the quieter side. </p><p>“I’ll make sure to keep that in mind.” Alex says, and his heart warms at the smile that etches on Willie’s face. He internally stores <i>’buy more sushi’</i> in his mental to-do list.</p><p>He reciprocates a grin. Maybe having a mermaid in his bathtub wasn’t so bad.</p>
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